baby steps

My wonderful landlords (Mr and Mrs Young) have offered to sell me the double (duplex) that I've been living in for a dozen years.

It is a great house.
Brick with a big screened in front porch, hardwood floors, plaster walls and the original wood trim and doors.
The backyard is amazing. It is a double lot, with 15 mature trees. The yard backs up to the Monon Trail, an old railroad trail-turned-linear-park.

The house is also very linear. Living room leads to dining room to a long hallway (home of the PEZ display -- all 400 of 'um). The kitchen is on the first door on right, the bathroom is the next door. The bedroom and the only closet is at the end of the hallway.

I've felt good about renting all of this time. My landlords have been great. The rent is extremely reasonable and any repairs have been made pronto. It has been a great experience for me, and allowed me to have a series of crappy jobs and find a career that I love.

I told the Young's that if they ever decided to sell, I wanted to be first in line. The bought a couple of properties when they married to put their kids through college. The youngest graduated this year.
I signed a purchase agreement this February and promptly freaked-out.
It felt like I was making a life style decision.
"I'm never going to get married"
"I'm going to die alone in this house"
"I'm going to be the crazy cat lady in the neighborhood"
"I'll become the woman who's house is so stuffed with stacks of books that she moved in to the other side"

Luckily the purchase agreement is good until the end of the year.

I finally turned my thoughts around.
"I will become a woman of property"
"I will have rental income"
"If I'm still here in 10 years I can knock out some walls, have a fabulous kitchen on one side and big bathroom on the other and finally have more than one closet"

I called a mortgage broker this morning and so far so good.
I was afraid a giant anvil would fall from the sky when my credit record was checked.
Did I purchase a boat in my sleep? Had I never paid back school loans?
The credit check came back okay.

So naturally I came home and freaked-out one more time (I'm sure it won't be the last).

I stood in my beautiful back yard as the sun set and watched the cat chase the fireflies.
It was all okay again.

I came in and gathered the documents the broker needs.

The mortgage train has left the station.